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The same goes for GlobalFoundries. Samsung was the biggest challenge in TSMC's eyes and it proved to be true. I have seen a big change in TSMC and how they do business so again competition is for the greater good.
Best quote from the article:
He also referred to the Battle of Stalingrad to express TSMC’s resolve in the IC foundry market saying, “The Battle of Stalingrad was a matter of life and death for the Soviet Union; however, it was not a problem of life and death for Germany. Under these different conditions, Germany’s 300,000 troops were completely annihilated, and the IC foundry market is TSMC’s Battle of Stalingrad.
Throughout the years, Morris Chang has mentioned the "Battle of Leningrad" several times. To understand what he really meant, you need to put the time, market condition, technology direction, scalability, resource, strategy, wills, and many other factors into the picture.
Once he mentioned this "Battle of Leningrad" or "Siege of Leningrad" about five or six years ago during the beginning phase of 28nm competition. Then he did again last month in October during a TSMC annual company's athlete fair.
In today's market condition, I think he meant TSMC is defending its home turf, contract foundry business. TSMC will defend its market and technology competitiveness fiercely because this is the only business they do. It's their home turf. There is no other place for them to retreat!
On the other hand, some analysts said it's for Samsung or GF to gain some market and for TSMC to lose some market from the never ending semi's technology progress. One simple reason behind this logic is that there is nothing for Samsung or GF to lose. Especially Samsung can rely on several other business divisions with huge revenue or profit if the foundry business doesn't go well. But it's can be a fatal idea. Just like the Nazi didn't realize it until too late that the Battle of Leningrad actually leading to the total failure of the German war machine.
At this moment, TSMC's market capitalization is about US$156 billion and IBM's market capitalization is about US$146 billion. But when I talk to many people around the world, not too many people know what TSMC, TSM, or the long form "Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited" stands for. Even TSMC's products and services are directly linked to our daily life.
